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Back to previous pageLOT 2418
Sold for (Inc. bp): £650
MEXICO, PROTOCLASSIC PERIOD, CIRCA 100 B.C.-250 A.D.
14 3/8 in. (1.9 kg, 36.5 cm).
Red ware, hollow-formed and modelled in the round, seated figure with horn to the brow and pierced ears, incised decoration to the midriff, pouring spout to rear of head.
PROVENANCE:
with Bonhams, London, 24 May 2016, lot 21.
Property of a Gloucestershire, UK, gentleman.
LITERATURE:
See Holsbeke, M., Offerings for a New Life, Funerary images from pre-Columbian West Mexico, Antwerp Ethnographic Museum, 1998, figure 3, for a guardian striking a similar pose.
FOOTNOTES:
Holding a throwing stone in one hand and facing an unseen danger to his left as was tradition. This seated figure can be identified as a tomb guardian with the horn on his head marking him as a shaman or with magical powers. His purpose was to serve and protect the deceased in the afterlife. The Colima culture produced the greatest variety of sculpture across ancient West Mexico.
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